Thinking of getting 2 6950's... worth it?

[exodusprime1337]

So my 5870's are quite frankly annoying me. having one reference and one non reference becausei had to rma one sux tbh. I'm thinking of buying two 6950's that i can hopefully unlock to 6970's. I have someone who will buy my 5870's making me back 300, and i don't mind buying new cards. The question is, will i see any performance increase, and if so which cards should i consider buying?

 

[Damn_Smooth]

The 5870's are still really great cards. With the 7000 series right around the corner, I would wait if I was you.

 

[LordJummy]

You will get a big increase with the 6950's, but don't think you're going to find unlockable ones in the stores. There's a chance you will, but most of them will not. Best chance is getting a couple used or resold reference cards. That or just go full 6970's.

*edit: that AMD cpu isn't going to let you use two 6950's 100%, but if you have the money go for it I guess. Probably better keeping the 5870's until you upgrade your cpu/platform.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

7000 are not around the corner AMD and Nvidia gpus were delayed into 2012 most likely sometime in march / april


6950s will give you a performance increase in terms of Xfire scaling

but to get that scaling you need more memory bandwidth then a Phenom II will provide with these gpus, i5 or i7 / Bulldozer are needed to really get the most out of them.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/11

 

[Damn_Smooth]

7000 are not around the corner AMD and Nvidia gpus were delayed into 2012 most likely sometime in march / april

I haven't heard anything on an AMD delay. Just Nvidia. This article tries to explain why that is.

http://semiaccurate.com/2011/07/19/southern-islands-kepler-and-apples-a6-process-puzzle-outed/

Everything is just a rumor though, since I can't find any confirmation from AMD either way.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

there using the same foundries and same process,

global cant even keep up with AMD cpus let alone GPU, meaning TSMC still and if nvidia is having foundry problems that that would mean AMD most likely is as well, remember 32nm fiasco causing the 5xx and 6xxx series to just be refreshes instead of giving a huge performance boost? either way new gpus from either camp wont be here for another 6months at the very least.

 

[Damn_Smooth]

That article says that they might not be using the same process. But again, I'm not trying to argue because I don't know.

I do know that if I google a delay, nothing comes up and if I google a release, all articles say by the end of the year.

For articles in the past month anyway.

 

[shindaiwa21]

At best you're looking at what I would consider a half-generation upgrade which can't even be utilized that well by most of today's games at the cost of $300. I'd wait for next gen then upgrade if you feel you need to.

 

[Lionheart]

Bro, I would sell those HD5870's and grab 2 HD6950's, great price performance and crossfire scaling is awesome

 

[exodusprime1337]

Bro, I would sell those HD5870's and grab 2 HD6950's, great price performance and crossfire scaling is awesome

Thank you for helping make the decision, thats really all i started this thread for anyways, positive reinforcement. Now... which 6950's am i ordering.. preferably ones i can have by tuesday(east coast, RI), and definately ones i can unlock. I was thinking the 3 bay ones by asus, direct cu version??

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

MSI twin frozr III power editions

they should unlock, to the point MSI released there own unlocked bios for the card, they also have voltage control and run 20c cooler then reference cards. we had this conversation before.

 

[LordJummy]

I agree, the twin frozr 3's are really great coolers.

 

[Lionheart]

Thank you for helping make the decision, thats really all i started this thread for anyways, positive reinforcement. Now... which 6950's am i ordering.. preferably ones i can have by tuesday(east coast, RI), and definately ones i can unlock. I was thinking the 3 bay ones by asus, direct cu version??

Haha your welcome. Hmmm the MSI twin frozr III cards are a great choice and I do recommend them but if you have the space for those Asus Direct Cu triple slot cards, I would go with them mainly for the look as I do love the black and red theme lol, but don't think you'll be able to unlock em, Im not 100% sure but they both will overclock well both brands will

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

theres no point to the Asus Direct CU 3, there cooling from what i remember is worse then the Twin Frozr III and they dont have voltage control let alone they are not known to unlock as often as the TF III PE / OC

MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III PE/OC Radeon HD 6950 2GB ...

That said the Asus cards do look fucking sexy as hell,

but yea the MSI cards have a high enough chance of unlocking MSI has there own bios
http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/msi_r6950_twin_froz_iii_power_edition_unlocking,1.html

and with voltage control a 1000+ core is possible
http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-r6950-twin-frozr-iii-power-edition-oc-review/22

I mean hell the MSI cards when overclocked can gain enough performance to rival a GTX 580 at a much lower cost with a larger frame buffer to boot, there just sexy as hell cards.

To be completely honest if i could get 2x 6950 Twin Frozr III PE / OC cards id give up my 6970s simply for the temp and noise improvements, i hate high temps and to run at temps i find acceptable aka 75c or less at max overclock the stock coolers just get loud.

 

[TheDave545]

Maybe its a driver problem on my end...i dont know, but as great as they are i have had nothing but trouble with mine since day one, i have games with low texture problems, flickering problems and crossfire problems, now ok i understand not all games are crossfire compatible, but to have at least one problem on everygame is annoying.

Company Of Heroes - Flickering Issue, had to turn 1 GFX card off.
Battlefield 2 - Low Texture and Flickering Issue (Radeon Pro Sorted This Out)
The Witcher 2 - Flickering Issues, Low Texture Issues and Low FPS (Radeon Pro Sorted It Out)
Crysis - Occasional Flickering (Seems to have sorted itself out...Strange)
Crysis 2 - Low FPS Occasionaly and Flickering (very minor)
World In Conflict - Scaling Issue, in Full Screen it has borders, so i have to play it windowed.
Stalker - Flickering Issues, Shadowing Issues, FPS Issues (No fix yet)
Source Games - Low texture problems (this one really annoys me)

Even after uninstalling and then reinstalling the Catalyst driver i still get all these problems, checked each card individually, checked RAM, CPU is fine, PSU is fine, after all these checks i still get them, tbh it could just be a simple driver issue and thats that, but i thought even though the cards are powerful i should still show the problems i have had with mine, and my PC is less than a month old.

If you do get one, or two i hope they work out great for you because they really are powerful cards, Crysis on Max Settings without a hiccup is sight worth seeing.

Good Luck

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

thats why window mode = Xfire is turned off so not shit it dosent scale with WiC lol and i own the game no issues what so ever here

Stalker also no issues for me i have Shadows of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat

Source games also no issues,

sounds to me your driver install is borked, and that you forgot to get the latest CAP

if i remember Catalyst drivers can bork C++ installs

uninstall all C++ version via control panel, manually reinstall them, then install your drivers.

its well known AMD drivers can fuck up a few parts of windows and usually installing C++ again will fix it at least it as for me in the past.

 

[TheDave545]

thats why window mode = Xfire is turned off so not shit it dosent scale with WiC lol and i own the game no issues what so ever here

Stalker also no issues for me i have Shadows of Chernobyl and Call of Pripyat

Source games also no issues,

sounds to me your driver install is borked, and that you forgot to get the latest CAP

if i remember Catalyst drivers can bork C++ installs

uninstall all C++ version via control panel, manually reinstall them, then install your drivers.

its well known AMD drivers can fuck up a few parts of windows and usually installing C++ again will fix it at least it as for me in the past.

Dont think you understand me when i describe the window mode in WIC, i play in full screen, the game has borders, i turn one gfx card off and it still has borders, i turn my 2nd card back on then go back into the game then the only way to play it for me is to run it windowed mode, as full screen it just displays borders.

As for the C++ ill give that a go, i wasnt told this the last time i did a fresh install of amd drivers.

So which do i uninstall first and what do i install first.

Would it be:

Uninstall All AMD/ATI Drivers
Uninstall All C++
Reinstall AMD/ATI Drivers
Reinstall All C++

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

uninstall the AMD drivers
uninstall C++

then reinstall drivers and C++

reboot again and test,

the big problem was on older machines

as older drivers used C++ 2005 now there using 2008 i think might have moved to 2010, but as you can guess if the drivers borked all 3 well you get the idea, sometimes shit just happens

but i can say WiC works perfectly fine for me no borders or issues great game really

 

[TheDave545]

You got a link for the C++ downloads, as when i search i come across a dozen different things.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

x32 and x64 of each enjoy. 2005 2008 and 2010

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=21254

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3387

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=15336

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=29

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5555

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=14632

 

[TheDave545]

x32 and x64 of each enjoy. 2005 2008 and 2010

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=21254

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=3387

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=15336

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=29

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=5555

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=14632

Thanks!

 

[exodusprime1337]

I just recieved my two twin frozr III 6950's and installed them, lets see what these bad bitches can do!!!

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

hell yea mofo

 

[Lionheart]

I just recieved my two twin frozr III 6950's and installed them, lets see what these bad bitches can do!!!

Nice, I want results pls

 

[exodusprime1337]

before i get into flashing these thigns, how does the dual bios switch work? just in case i fugger something up?